Chris McCosky / The Detroit News
East Rutherford, N.J. -- The news was encouraging afterward on fallen Lions linebacker Zack Follett.
"Keep him in your prayers," coach Jim Schwartz said. "He's a valuable member of this team. He's a favorite in this locker room and he's a favorite across the city of Detroit, and rightfully so."
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Follett was strapped to a backboard, carted off the field and taken to Hackensack Medical Center after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit from Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul on a Lions kickoff in the second half on Sunday.
The postgame report was there was no evidence of a fracture to the cervical spine and he had movement in all extremities.
The play raised a couple of issues. Lions safety C.C. Brown, for one, feels the league needs to outlaw the wedge on kickoff returns. Follett's job on the kick coverage unit is essentially to be a human missile and break up the return team's wedge.
"At some point they've got to outlaw that wedge," Brown said. "There are too many people getting hurt. You've got two 300-pound guys coming to you and they want you to hit that wedge. That's an accident on call, right there. At some point the league needs to outlaw it."
The league has done a lot to govern helmet-to-helmet hits, but they remain very much part of the game.
"The league does a good job of officiating helmet-to-helmet hits," Schwartz said. "You're not going to be able to officiate all of them out of there. It's a tough game. Player safety is obviously one of the biggest concerns of the league, of coaching staffs and of players. But things happen and you can't officiate everything and you can't legislate everything."
Follett stayed in the hospital overnight for further evaluation.
No run, no win
The Lions' running game continues to be stuck in the mud. In a game where establishing the run was paramount to neutralizing the Giants' pass rush, Detroit amassed 64 yards on the ground, 3.0 per carry.
"They played a lot of plays designed to take the run game out," Schwartz said. "They ran a lot of eight-man fronts, lining up linebackers on the line of scrimmage. They were going to make it very difficult to run the ball."
Quarterback Drew Stanton was the leading rusher with 30 yards in three carries. Rookie Jahvid Best had no place to go, getting just 16 yards in 12 carries.
It was no consolation they limited the Giants, who had 19 sacks in five games, to just two.
Playing through pain
Calvin Johnson clearly was in pain after the game, despite catching five passes for 146 yards, including an 87-yard touchdown.
"Big pain," he said. "This week (bye week) is coming at a good time."
Matthew Stafford, who has a similar shoulder injury, advised Johnson to take treatment immediately. He said if he didn't work through it now, he would be set back next week.
The 87-yarder, by the way, was the second-longest TD reception of Johnson's career.
Extra points
Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh incurred another penalty for knocking a quarterback in the face with his hands. The penalty occurred on a second-and-long incompletion that kept alive what ended up being a 97-yard scoring drive.
"That happens a lot of times," Schwartz said. "Guys are trying to get into the chest and they slip up.
"He just has to get off that a bit quicker."
… Jason Hanson kicked two 50-yard field goals and has now booted nine in a row. He has kicked a NFL-record 45 field goals of 50 or more yards and he's moved into fifth place all-time with 438 field goals.
… On tying the record of 24 consecutive road losses, Schwartz said, "We haven't won very many games at home in that time, either. So when you don't win many at home you are sure not going to win many on the road. Obviously, we need to get over that hump."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101017/SPORTS0101/10170327/1361/Lions-LB-Zack-Follett-improving-after-violent-collision#ixzz12ftDAJEe
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